IES II 0 v Carlton Park I 2

17/01/09

For their first game back after the Christmas break Park travelled to Ipswich for the encounter against IES. In very wet and windy conditions Park started off with the push back and immediately passed the ball well from side to side. With conditions improving as the half went on they continued to put pressure on the home side’s defence. Park were unfortunate not to take the lead when some good work by the midfield saw some excellent one touch hockey. Unfortunately Emma Tuckwell running in onto the left hand side of the goal failed to connect accurately to the moving ball. Roo Mackie was also unlucky not to put her name on the scoresheet when some good work by Wendy Corneby saw her draw the keeper out. Roo’s tap in on goal unfortunately went wide. Park kept up the pressure and Karen Fletcher was hardly tested in Park’s goal. The defence of Mel Rodwell, Mercedes Buckle, Kirsty Marshall and Kerry Whatling worked tremendously hard cutting out any breaks towards goal. Park opened the scoring when the ball was cleared out to Mel Rodwell on the top of the ‘d’ and her shot took a deflection and looped over the keepers head and into the back of the goal. Park were awarded a few penalty corners but were unable to convert these chances. The midfield of Justine Howe, Wendy Corneby and Emma Tuckwell linked up well and fed the ball up towards the advancing attackers. Park finished the half a goal to the good and by far the better team.

In the second half Park again kept the pressure on the visitor’s defence. Some good saves from the home side’s goalie kept them in the game. IES who rotated their players just couldn’t find the answer to the tight marking of Park and also their excellent distribution of the ball. Park then scored their second goal when a shot from Justine Howe again took a deflection and ended up in the back of the net. Mercedes Buckle then received a green card for shoulder charging her opponent but this didn’t stop her from making crucial tackles as IES pressed forward. Then the game took a turn for the worst for Park. Mercedes Buckle owned up to the ball hitting her foot. She informed the umpire what had happened as he was further up the pitch. The umpire wasn’t too happy that he was told what had happened and when Mel Rodwell explained what had happened he then carded her for dissent (yellow). From a rather trivial matter it evolved into a rather bitter ending with Mel asking was she off for good or would she be allowed back on. The umpire told her she was off for good and therefore she walked off and threw her stick onto her bag in disgust with herself as well as the umpire. The umpire then gave her a red card and ordered her outside the perimeter of the pitch. I think the situation was blown out of all proportion by the umpire. So the moral of the story is we no longer own up!!! Park then regrouped to compensate for being a player down with Emma Tuckwell moving into defence, Roo Mackie moving to midfield and leaving two forwards up front. This didn’t affect the way the team played and Park still managed a few more shots on goal. So all in all and excellent team performance marred by in my view an irrational decision by the umpire.

Squad: Karen Fletcher, Kirsty Marshall, Mercedes Buckle, Mel Rodwell, Kerry Whatling, Emma Tuckwell, Justine Howe, Roo Mackie, Wendy Corneby, Vicky Le Fanu, Denise Manning

Report by Denise Manning.